BROCKTON − The Abington-Rockland Joint Water Works has joined thousands of communities and water providers in suing 30 chemical manufacturers and distributors, claiming the companies contaminated the towns' drinking water with toxins linked to cancer and other health problems.
The lawsuit claims that the companies, including giants DuPont and 3M, allowed public agencies to use a fire-extinguishing foam called aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF, which leached man-made chemicals into the environment.
Those chemicals, known as PFAS, then filtered into the towns' reservoirs and wells. The lawsuit alleges that the companies were aware of the adverse health effects and did not pull products from the market despite knowing that the foam, even at extremely low levels, "renders drinking water unfit for consumption."
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The Abington-Rockland complaint cites an Environmental Protection Agency report linking exposure to PFAS with cancer, birth defects, harm to breastfed infants and impacts to the liver, immune system, thyroid and other organs.
The local waterworks agency is asking the defendants to pay for any costs and expenses related to investigating PFAS in the drinking water, treating the water and upgrading and maintaining the water system to filter out the chemicals.
"(We are looking to) protect the water, our residents, the source, the water quality and to improve it," Abington-Rockland Joint Water Works Superintendent Kristel Cameron said. "It’s always our main goal."
A spokesperson for 3M told The Patriot Ledger the company "acted responsibly" when it came to the manufacturing and distribution of the firefighting foam.
“3M acted responsibly in connection with products containing PFAS - including AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam) - and will vigorously defend its record of environmental stewardship," the company said in an emailed statement. "AFFF was a critical tool developed to serve an important need for military service members and other responders facing potentially life-threatening challenges.”
A representative of DuPont did not respond to requests for comment.
A widespread problem
The suit, filed in Plymouth Superior Court, has been consolidated with more than 3,300 similar cases across the country for pretrial proceedings in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina. Judge Richard Gergel, who presides over the litigation, has assigned three bellwether cases − essentially a trial run for multiplaintiff lawsuits − to be tried later this year. Bellwether cases often help to establish a realistic compensation amount each plaintiff would receive if they won the case.
Rich Sandman, of Malden, a lawyer for the Abington-Rockland Joint Water Works, said the results of the bellwether cases could lead to a global settlement for the plaintiffs. If that doesn't happen, the suits return to their local jurisdictions for trial. In this case, the Abington-Rockland suit would be heard in Plymouth County Superior Court in Brockton.
"It's not just about Abington and Rockland," Sandman told The Patriot Ledger. "Probably, when we're done, there could be 100 lawsuits in Massachusetts."
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are chemicals that dissolve readily in water and move quickly through aquifers and waterways, making it difficult to trace them back to the original site of contamination. Known as "forever chemicals," they persist and accumulate in the environment and the human body. Several South Shore communities have contended with PFAS levels in municipal drinking water over the last decade.
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Former South Weymouth Naval Air Station a PFAS hotbed
Then-Attorney General Maura Healey in May sued 13 producers of the toxic foam on behalf of the state. According to the complaint, PFAS contamination has been widespread in Massachusetts, "including more than 126 public drinking water systems in 86 communities." That case has also been consolidated in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina.
Healey's complaint singled out high PFAS contamination at the former naval air station in Weymouth, Rockland and Abington, now known as Union Point. The firefighting foam was initially designed for use at airports, in firefighting training programs and on military bases like the one at Union Point from 1942 through 1997.
Healey said PFAScontamination levels in groundwater at the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station have reached as high as 330,000 parts per trillion, exponentially higher than the state-mandated maximum of 20 parts per trillion.
The Abington-Rockland suit claims that by the 1970s, the chemical companies knew about potential hazards associated with their products when used as directed, but concealed them from consumers for decades. The case cites an internal study conducted by DuPont between 1979 and 1981 that found PFAS in the blood of workers at a plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and observed birth defects in their children.
New regulations aim to keep drinking water safe
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection in October 2020 issued new regulations for drinking water that lowered the threshold for permissible PFAS contamination from 70 parts per trillion to 20 parts per trillion. Since then, the Abington-Rockland Joint Water Works has retrofitted its Myers Avenue treatment plant with granular activated carbon and is seeking further solutions to comply with regulations.
Other South Shore towns have also installed granular activated carbon to water treatment plants, including Cohasset, Norwell, Hanover and Braintree.
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In a public notice sent to Abington and Rockland residents in December, the waterworks reports that the towns' water supply has exceeded maximum PFAS levels for three of the last four quarters. It advised consumers in "sensitive subgroups" to use bottled water for drinking, foods that absorb water and infant formula. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sensitive groups include pregnant women, infants and the immuno-compromised.
Sandman, the lawyer for Abington and Rockland, warned that the allowed level of PFAS could go down even further as officials learn more about the chemicals' effects on the environment and human health.
"(Towns and municipalities) should be taking action with additional monitoring, treating, etc.," he said. "It’s the right thing to do. ... There’s likely to be more stringent standards coming out shortly, where they’ll have to take action. It won’t dissipate over time."
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